Archive for ‘Lombardy’

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17/05/2020

Europe Coronavirus Updates: Italy sees fewer COVID-19 patients, Spanish PM seeks final extension of State of Alarm

A pedestrian waits to cross a street in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng)

— New single-day COVID-19 deaths continue to drop in France

— Italy sees fewer COVID-19 patients, number of active infections falls to 70,187

— New deaths from COVID-19 keep falling in Spain as PM seeks final extension of State of Alarm

— Deaths from coronavirus top 9,000 in Belgium

BRUSSELS, May 16 (Xinhua) — The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

A man makes a phone call near the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero Palace, Paris, France, May 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

PARIS — France had registered 96 new deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, fewer than the previous two 24-hour periods, while the balance of the coronavirus-related hospitalization remains negative, France’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.

According to the ministry, the 96 new single-day deaths were lower than 104 registered on Friday and 351 on Thursday. So far, 27,625 people have succumbed to the coronavirus-caused disease across France.

Meanwhile, France is now the world’s fourth worst-hit country in terms of human loss caused by COVID-19 after the United States, Britain and Italy.

As of Saturday, the country had recorded 142,291 confirmed cases, a single-day increase of 372, slower than Friday’s 563. A total of 61,066 patients had recovered and returned home since early March.

People wait in line outside a cocktail bar in Rome, Italy, May 12, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)

ROME — The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care (ICU) patients dropped in Italy over the past 24 hours, according to the latest tally posted by the Civil Protection Department on Saturday.

Recoveries rose by 2,605 from a day earlier, bringing the total to 122,810.

Nationwide, the number of active infections fell to 70,187, down from 72,070 on Friday.

Of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus, 775 are in intensive care, down by 33 from Friday, and 10,400 are hospitalized with symptoms, down by 392.

The death toll on Saturday was 153, bringing the total to 31,763 since the outbreak was first recorded in Italy’s northern Lombardy region in February.

The total number of COVID-19 cases combining infections, fatalities and recoveries has risen to 224,760, up from 223,885 on Friday.

A security guard offers disinfectant gel to a woman at the entrance of a building in Barcelona, Spain, on May 11, 2020. (Photo by Sergi Camara/Xinhua)

MADRID — The Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare confirmed on Saturday falls in the number of new deaths from COVID-19 as well as new cases.

The total number of deaths in Spain rose to 27,563 after 102 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in the 24-hour period until 21:00 hours local time on Friday.

This was the lowest number of deaths in a 24-hour period since March 16, with 50 of the deaths in the regions of Madrid and Catalonia.

The same period also saw a slight fall in the number of new cases. The Health Ministry reported 539 new infections, down from 549 reported 24 hours earlier, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 230,698.

Also on Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he will seek a fifth and final extension of the State of Alarm, which was imposed on March 15 to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Speaking in a televised speech, Sanchez said the upcoming final State of Alarm, which will come into effect on May 24 if approved, will be “different” from others.

“It is expected to be the last State of Alarm. We are going to request in the Congress of Deputies that it should last for a month,” he said. All the previous four extensions have been 15 days.

Few people are seen at the Saint-Hubert Royal Galleries shopping street in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Cheng)

BRUSSELS — With an increase of 47 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the novel coronavirus had caused a total of 9,005 deaths in Belgium since the beginning of the epidemic, said the public health institute Sciensano on Saturday.

Of the 9,005 deaths, 48 percent took place in hospitals, 51 percent in nursing homes, and about 0.6 percent elsewhere, according to Sciensano. Deaths in hospitals were all confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of the fatalities in nursing homes, 23 percent were confirmed by test while the other were presumed by symptoms.

Also in the past 24 hours, 345 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, raising the cumulative cases to 54,989 in Belgium.

Source: Xinhua

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08/05/2020

French hospital says first suspected COVID-19 cases weeks earlier than official record in country

A COVID-19 patient is wheeled out from an EHPAD (Housing Establishment for Dependant Elderly People) in Epinay sur Seine near Paris, France, on April 22, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

The first suspected cases of COVID-19 infection in France could date back to Nov. 16 last year, a hospital in eastern France said. Before this announcement, the first COVID-19 infection cases officially recorded in France were on Jan. 24, 2020.

PARIS, May 8 (Xinhua) — The first suspected cases of COVID-19 infection in France could date back to Nov. 16 last year, some nine weeks earlier than the official record of the country’s first confirmed cases, a hospital in eastern France said Thursday.

“Doctor Michel Schmitt, head of the medical imaging department at the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Colmar, has reviewed 2,456 chest scans performed between Nov. 1 and April 30, for all reasons (cardiac, pulmonary, traumatic, tumor pathologies),” said the hospital in a press release.

A suspected patient of COVID-19 is transferred to an EHPAD in Epinay sur Seine near Paris, France, April 22, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

The typical scans compatible with COVID-19 infection have been also reviewed in a second then a third reading by two other experienced radiologists. According to this retrospective study, the first cases of contamination with COVID-19 were thus identified from Nov. 16 in this hospital, it said.

Albert Schweitzer hospital added that it has launched a collaboration with France’s National Center for Scientific Research to start an epidemiological exploitation of these results.

Before this announcement, the first case of COVID-19 infection in east France was officially identified in late February. It involved a 36-year-old man who returned from a trip to Lombardy, then hotspot of the epidemic in Italy.

A giant mask is seen on a residential building in Saint-Mande, near Paris, France, on May 2, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

The first COVID-19 infection cases officially recorded in France were on Jan. 24, 2020 relating to individuals who had recently arrived or returned from China.

France on Thursday registered 178 new deaths caused by the novel coronavirus, taking the tally to 25,987. As hospitalization data continued to slow, the government said on Thursday that the country would start to unwind the nearly-two-month anti-coronavirus lockdown from Monday.

Source: Xinhua

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29/03/2020

Italian professor repeats warning coronavirus may have spread outside China last year

  • Giuseppe Remuzzi’s comments were seized on by Chinese state media amid the acrimonious row with the US, but he says the key question is how far Covid-19 had spread before it was identified
  • Academic says ‘strange pneumonias’ in Italy last November suggest it may have reached Europe before anyone knew what the disease was
Giuseppe Remuzzi told NPR there had been ‘strange pneumonias’ in Italy in November and December. Photo: Handout
Giuseppe Remuzzi told NPR there had been ‘strange pneumonias’ in Italy in November and December. Photo: Handout
The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 may have spread beyond China before the health authorities had even discovered the disease, according to the Italian professor who recently said there had been “very strange pneumonias” in Europe as early as November last year.
The comments by Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, during an interview with US National Public Radio last week were quickly seized upon in the increasingly acrimonious blame game between Washington and Beijing
.
Remuzzi’s comments attracted much attention in China, where the authorities have been working hard to steer the international narrative about the pandemic, and stop people describing it as the “China virus” or “Wuhan virus” after the city where the disease was first identified.
In an interview with the Chinese science and technology news outlet DeepTech, which was published on Tuesday, Remuzzi said the key point in his NPR interview was not where the virus came from, but how far it had spread before it was discovered.
Coronavirus: Italy has a brief glimpse of hope as new cases drop to a five-day low
24 Mar 2020

He said a major question was how long the disease, which has so far infected more than 378,000 and killed over 16,500 people worldwide, had been spreading in China before health authorities realised its severity.

Taking into account the long incubation period, Remuzzi said he would not be surprised if some asymptomatic carriers had travelled around China or even abroad before December.

The professor also said that while it was possible it originated outside Wuhan, there had so far been no proof to support the theory.

As the outbreak gathered pace in the US, where it has now killed more than 500 people, Washington has escalated its rhetoric. President Donald Trump had repeatedly referred to it publicly as the “Chinese virus” until he changed tone on Monday and declined to use the phrase.

China, meanwhile, has described the rhetoric adopted by “certain US politicians and senior officials” as an attempt to defame and stigmatise China over the pandemic.

A number of Chinese state media outlets, including party mouthpiece People’s Daily and its tabloid affiliate Global Times, seized on Remuzzi’s comments about “strange pneumonias” to counter the “Chinese virus rhetoric”.

Coronavirus: why are so many more people dying in Italy than Germany?

23 Mar 2020

In the NPR interview, Remuzzi tried to explain why Italy had been caught off guard when the outbreak started gathering pace in February.

He discussed the difficulty of combating a disease that people did not know existed, and said the unusual cases in November and December could mean that virus was already circulating in Lombardy, the country’s worst-hit region, before people were aware of what was unfolding in Wuhan.

Remuzzi also shared details of the early suspected cases in Lombardy with DeepTech and Chinese state-run international network CGTN.

Remuzzi said he had learned about the cases from a few general practitioners and he has not yet been able to verify the information.

But he said there are some other suspicious cases he “knows for sure”, including two pneumonia cases in Scanzorosciate in northern Italy in December, where the patients developed high fever, a cough and had difficulty in breathing.

He said there had also been 10 patients who developed bilateral interstitial pneumonia in two other nearby towns, Fara Gera D’Adda and Crema, who had similar symptoms.

Coronavirus: confusion as Chinese face masks bound for Italy end up in Czech Republic

23 Mar 2020

Remuzzi said local doctors considered these cases to be “unusual” but ruled out the possibility of seasonal influenza, as all these patients had been vaccinated.

“The reason we don’t know if it was Covid-19 is because at that time this could not be tested; the patients didn’t have X-rays,” he told CGTN.

They recovered within 15 days, with some receiving two or three courses of antibiotics.

Remuzzi added there had also been a patient diagnosed with bilateral interstitial pneumonia in Alzano Lombardo Hospital in Lombardy around the time.

Source: SCMP

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23/03/2020

Coronavirus: ‘strange pneumonia’ seen in Lombardy in November, leading Italian doctor says

  • Virus was circulating ‘before we were aware of the outbreak in China’, says Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research
  • Italy has now reported more than 4,800 deaths from Covid-19, more than any other country in the world
Italian doctors became aware of a “strange pneumonia” circulating in the Lombardy region in November. Photo: AFP
Italian doctors became aware of a “strange pneumonia” circulating in the Lombardy region in November. Photo: AFP
A “strange pneumonia” was circulating in northern Italy as long ago as November, weeks before doctors were made aware of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, one of the European country’s leading medical experts said this week.
“They [general practitioners] remember having seen very strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even November,” Giuseppe Remuzzi, the director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, said in an interview with the National Public Radio of the United States.
“This means that the virus was circulating, at least in [the northern region of] Lombardy and before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China.”
Remuzzi’s comments came as scientists continue to search for the origin of the coronavirus. Chinese respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said earlier that although China was the first to report the pathogen, it was not yet certain where it actually came from.

Remuzzi said it was only recently that he had heard from Italian doctors about the disease, which meant it had existed and been spreading without people’s knowledge.

Despite reporting its first locally transmitted coronavirus infections – in Lombardy – only on February 21 – it had had only imported cases before then – Italy has since had more than 53,000 confirmed cases and 4,825 deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the pathogen. By comparison, China has had just over 81,000 cases and 3,261 fatalities.

Italy suspended all flights to China on January 31, the first nation to do so.

Coronavirus vaccine trial volunteers recount their experiences

22 Mar 2020
In the central China city of Wuhan, where the epidemic was first identified, doctors began noticing a “pneumonia with an unknown cause” in December. The first known infection in the city can be traced back to December 1.
A report by the South China Morning Post said that the first Chinese case might have been as early as mid-November, but that has not been confirmed by Beijing.

The current thinking among the scientific community is that the first infection in Lombardy was the result of an Italian coming into contact with a Chinese person in late January. However, if it can be shown that the novel coronavirus – officially known as SARS-CoV-2 – was in circulation in Italy in November, then that theory would be turned on its head.

The debate over the possible origin of the pathogen has also been at the heart of a war of words between Beijing and Washington, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly referring to it as the “Chinese virus” and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling it the “Wuhan virus”, infuriating Beijing in the process.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian took to Twitter to contest the claims.

“By calling it ‘China virus’ and thus suggesting its origin without any supporting facts or evidence, some media clearly want China to take the blame, and their ulterior motives are laid bare,” he said.

He then went on to suggest that the coronavirus outbreak might have started in the United States and been carried to Wuhan by the US Army.

Source: SCMP

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03/03/2020

Coronavirus: China orders travellers quarantined amid outbreak

A Chinese office worker wears a protective mask as she waits to take a public bus after leaving work on 2 March 2020 in Beijing, ChinaImage copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption Authorities are also asking overseas Chinese to reconsider travel plans

Travellers from countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks who arrive in some parts of China will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine, state media say.

Travellers from the virus hotspots of South Korea, Japan, Iran and Italy arriving in the capital will have to be isolated, a Beijing official has said.

Shanghai and Guangdong announced similar restrictions earlier.

Authorities are worried the virus might be imported back into the country.

Although most virus deaths have been in China, Monday saw nine times more new infections outside China than in.

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What do I need to know about the coronavirus?

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Shanghai said it would require new arrivals from countries with “relatively serious virus conditions” to be isolated, without naming the countries.

Authorities are also asking overseas Chinese to reconsider travel plans.

“For the sake of your family’s health and safety, please strengthen your precautions, carefully decide on your travel plans and minimise mobility,” officials in one southern Chinese province said.

China reported 125 new virus cases on Tuesday – the lowest number of new daily infections in six weeks. There were also 31 more deaths – all in Hubei province, where the virus emerged.Presentational white space

Coronavirus chart 3 March 2020
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In other developments:

  • Finance ministers from the G7 countries have said they are “ready to take action”, including fiscal measures to aid the response to the virus and support the global economy
  • The Pope, who had cancelled a Lent retreat for the first time in his papacy because he was suffering from a cold, has tested negative for the virus, Italian media report
  • South Korean President Moon Jae-in has put the country into a “state of war” and ordered all government departments to shift to a 24-hour emergency system
  • Jailed British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is in good health, Iran’s judiciary has said. She was assessed after her husband said she was showing symptoms of Covid-19
  • Japan’s Olympic minister says the Tokyo 2020 Games could be postponed until later in the year. BBC Sport is keeping track of all events that are affected
  • In the UK, where there are 39 confirmed cases, the government has warned that up to a fifth of the workforce may be off sick during the peak of a coronavirus epidemic
Media caption Julie, who lives in Singapore, was diagnosed with coronavirus and then put into isolation

How are different countries affected?

There are now almost 90,000 cases worldwide in about 70 countries, although the vast majority – just under 90% – remain in China, and most of those are in Hubei province where the virus originated late last year.

Of the nearly 8,800 cases outside China, 81% are in four countries – Iran, South Korea, Italy and Japan.

Coronavirus chart 3 March 2020

One of the countries worst affected outside China – Italy – said on Monday that the death toll there had risen by 18 to 52. There are 1,835 confirmed cases, most of them in the Lombardy and Veneto areas of the north. Nearly 150 people are said to have recovered.

However, the country is seeing a slowdown in new cases. On Monday, the authorities said there were 258 new cases of the virus – a 16% increase on the previous day – after new cases spiked by 50% on Sunday.

European coronavirus map 3 March 2020
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On Tuesday, Iran said the latest death toll from the virus was 77 – although the real figure is believed to be much higher. More than 2,300 people are said to be infected, including senior political figures. The head of Iran’s emergency medical services, Pirhossein Kolivand, was one of them, the Ilna news agency reported on Tuesday.

Some 23 MPs are also reported to have tested positive for the virus, and an official close to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reported on Monday to have died of the disease.

Health officials in the US state of Washington said on Monday that four more people had died, bringing the total there to six. They are the only deaths in the US so far. Local officials say they are buying a hotel to convert it into an isolation hospital.

On Tuesday, Ukraine confirmed its first case of coronavirus, while Portugal, Iceland, Jordan, Tunisia, Armenia, Latvia, Senegal, Morocco and Andorra confirmed their first cases on Monday.

Coronavirus global map

How deadly is Covid-19?

The WHO says the virus appears to particularly affect those over 60, and people already ill.

In the first large analysis of more than 44,000 cases from China, the death rate was 10 times higher in the very elderly compared to the middle-aged.

Most patients have only mild symptoms and the death rate appears to be between 2% and 5%, the WHO said.

By comparison, seasonal flu has an average mortality rate of about 0.1%, but is highly infectious – with up to 400,000 people dying from it each year.

Other strains of coronavirus, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), have much higher death rates than Covid-19.

Death rates for different groups

Source: The BBC

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24/02/2020

Coronavirus: North Korea quarantines foreigners

A woman helps her daughter seen wearing a face mask in PyongyangImage copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image caption North Korea is taking precautions to keep the virus out

North Korea has quarantined 380 foreigners in an attempt to stop the coronavirus from breaking out.

The foreigners are mostly diplomats stationed in the capital Pyongyang, state media reported.

About 200 foreigners had already been confined to their compounds for the past 30 days – but as that came to an end, the quarantine has been extended.

North Korea has not reported any cases of Covid-19, but several other countries did so on Monday.

Afghanistan and Dubai said they had detected their first cases, and Kuwait said three people returning from Iran had been infected.

In South Korea, seven people have died with 763 people infected. Around 7,700 troops have been quarantined after 11 military members were infected.

The virus, which emerged in China, has spread to at least 29 countries. Italy has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe, with 152.

Around 50,000 people in two northern “hotspot” regions – Veneto and Lombardy – have been put under quarantine for two weeks.

Iran has also confirmed 43 cases of the virus and eight deaths.

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus emerged, the authorities earlier announced that some non-residents would be allowed to leave if they showed no symptoms of the virus.

However, local officials now say that order was made without authorisation and has been revoked.

The city has been in lockdown since January 23, with authorities cutting off transport links in and out of the city.

More than 2,500 people have died from the virus in mainland China, with some 77,150 cases confirmed cases reported.

A worker sprays disinfectant to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus at a market in SeoulImage copyright AFP
Image caption A worker sprays disinfectant to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus at a market in Seoul

What is the situation in North Korea?

North Korea has not confirmed any cases but the country shares a long and often porous border with China. There are concerns that North Korea, which is subject to international sanctions, lacks the health infrastructure to test and treat those infected and that any outbreak could quickly spread unchecked.

At the moment, all foreigners coming into the country must be quarantined for 30 days.

There are relatively few foreigners in North Korea, and only around 200 Westerners, according to one expert.

North Korean authorities have also cancelled the annual Pyongyang marathon, which typically sees people from all over the world participating.

Around 3,000 people in North Pyongan province – a north-western region bordering China – are also now under monitoring for reportedly showing suspected symptoms, said state media.

What about South Korea?

Media caption People in Daegu have voiced concern over the spread of the virus

South Korea has the largest number of confirmed cases outside China, after a huge spike in the past week.

Before last Wednesday, the country had recorded just 31 cases. That number has now jumped to 763.

Eight new cases of the virus have been reported in the army, and one in the navy, air force and marine corps – bringing the number to 11.

But the biggest virus clusters have been linked to a hospital and a religious group near the south-eastern city of Daegu.

A handful of South Korea airlines, including Korean Air Lines – the country’s biggest airline – has suspended flights going to Daegu, which has a population of around 2.5m.

Korean Air says the suspension will last until March 27

What’s happening in Italy?

Italian officials have introduced sweeping measures to control what is now the worst outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe – at least three people have died and more than 150 cases confirmed.

In the regions of Lombardy and Veneto, a lock-down is in place in several small towns. For the next two weeks, 50,000 residents will not be able to leave without special permission.

Even outside the zone, many businesses and schools have suspended activities, and sporting events have been cancelled – including several top-flight football matches.

Officials have yet to find the first carrier of the virus in the country.

Map of Italy
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World edges closer to coronavirus pandemic

Analysis by Fergus Walsh, medical correspondent

The combined situation in South Korea, Iran and Italy points to the early stages of pandemic. This means a global outbreak, with the coronavirus spreading in the community in multiple parts of the world.

In each of these countries we are seeing spread of the virus with no connection to China. The lockdown efforts in Italy mirror those that have happened in China.

The situation in Iran is especially worrying, because the health authorities have reportedly said the virus has spread to multiple cities, and it appears the first case in Lebanon is linked to a traveller from Iran.

If we have a pandemic, it will still be important to limit the speed of spread of the virus.

If countries could hold it somewhat at bay until the end of winter, there is a hope that warmer temperatures will reduce the time the virus can survive in the air, as we see with seasonal flu. But this may not be certain.

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What’s the latest from Iran?

Iran said on Sunday it had 43 confirmed cases of the virus, most of them in the holy city of Qom. Eight of those infected have died, the highest number of deaths outside China.

Iraq, Pakistan, Armenia and Turkey have closed their borders with Iran, and Afghanistan has suspended air and road travel to and from Iran.

What about China, where the outbreak started?

China’s President Xi Jinping has described the outbreak as the “largest public health emergency” in the country’s recent history.

Speaking on Sunday, he acknowledged “shortcomings” in China’s response and said lessons must be learned.

China reported 409 new infections on Monday, the bulk of which were from Wuhan.

But outside China, cases with no clear link to that country or other confirmed cases continue to rise, prompting concern from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Source: The BBC

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23/02/2020

Korea raises alert to highest level as coronavirus cases jump

SEOUL/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – South Korea raised its disease alert to the highest level on Sunday after a surge in coronavirus infections and two more deaths, while China state media warned the outbreak there had yet to reach a turning point despite some signs of easing.

South Korea’s president said he was putting the country on “red alert” due to the rapid rise in new cases, which are largely being traced back to church services. Health officials reported 169 new infections, bringing the total to 602, having doubled from Friday to Saturday.

The escalation in the alert level allows the government to send extra resources to Daegu city and Cheongdo county, which were designated “special care zones” on Friday.

South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency said it also enables the government to forcibly prevent public activities and order the temporary closure of schools, though the government gave no immediate details on what steps could be taken.

In China, the health commission confirmed 648 new infections – higher than a day earlier – but only 18 were outside of Hubei province, the lowest number outside of the epicenter since authorities started publishing data a month ago and locked down large parts of the country.

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  • Italy coronavirus cases rise to more than 100: regional chief
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But the number of cases continued to climb elsewhere.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed government agencies on Sunday to urgently prepare medical provisions and draft a comprehensive plan to curb the spread of the virus, after it reported 27 more cases a day earlier.

The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory level one notch for South Korea and Japan to Level 2 on a scale of 1 to 4.

Concern about the reach and rapid spread of coronavirus also grew in Europe and the Middle East.

Cases in Italy, Europe’s worst hit country, more than quadrupled to 79 on Saturday, with two deaths.

Iran reported a total of 43 infections, with eight deaths – all since Tuesday – forcing some of its neighbors to announce travel and immigration curbs.

The World Health Organization on Saturday stressed that the number of cases outside of China was still relatively few, but it was worried by the detection of infections without a clear link to China.

The disease has spread to some 26 countries and territories outside China, killing more than a dozen people, according to a Reuters tally. It has been fatal in 2% of reported cases, with the elderly and ill the most vulnerable, according to the WHO.

The potential economic impact of coronavirus was prominent at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Riyadh, at which the International Monetary Fund chief said China’s 2020 growth would likely be lower at 5.6%, down 0.4 percentage points from its January outlook, with 0.1 percentage points shaved from global growth.

Graphic: Online site for coronavirus news here

Graphic: Tracking the novel coronavirus here

CHURCH CONTAGION

The last time South Korea raised the alert to the highest was 11 years ago during the Influenza A or H1N1 outbreak.

Many of South Korea’s new cases were linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus congregation in Daegu after a 61-year-old woman known as “Patient 31” tested positive for the virus last week. The woman had no recent record of overseas travel.

Catholic churches in Daegu and Gwangju have suspended mass and other gatherings, while churches elsewhere saw declines in attendance on Sunday, especially among the elderly.

“If the situation gets worse, I think we’ll need to take more measures. Currently, we’re limiting personal gatherings within the church except for Mass,” said Song Gi-young, 53, wearing a face mask at church.

Heo Young-moo, 88, expressed frustration.

“Devotees shouldn’t go to any risky places … Hasn’t it become so widespread because those people didn’t get checked?”,” he said.

Outside of the church was a sign that said: “All Shincheonji followers are strictly prohibited from entering”.

The foreign ministry said South Koreans aboard a plane to Israel had been denied entry there on Saturday due to concerns about the virus spread.

China said the number of new deaths on Saturday from COVID-19, as the disease caused by the virus is known, was 97, all but one of which were in Hubei.

Eighty-two of those were in the provincial capital Wuhan, where Xinhua news agency said nucleic tests were being carried out on the backlog of cases to try to contain the spread.

In total, China has reported 76,936 cases, and 2,442 deaths. The WHO says the virus is severe or critical in only a fifth of infected patients, and mild in the rest.

Graphic: Reuters graphics on the new coronavirus here

NOT OVER YET

Beijing, Zhejiang, Sichuan had no new infections on Feb. 22 for the first time since the outbreak was detected. There were signs of street life in Shanghai, with some cafes serving take-out food and families wearing masks walking their dogs.

State run television on Sunday urged people to avoid complacency, drawing attention to people gathering in public areas and tourist spots without wearing masks.

Analysts have been closely watching out for any signs of a secondary wave of infections as transport restrictions are eased and many migrant workers return to factories and offices. Business activity in the world’s second-biggest economy is only gradually returning to normal after widespread disruptions.

Japan’s health minister apologized on Saturday after a woman who was allowed to leave the coronavirus-struck Diamond Princess cruise ship tested positive despite having underwent quarantine.

At least 623 cases have been reported on the vessel, the biggest outbreak outside China, involving more than a dozen nationalities.

In Italy, schools and universities were closed and some soccer matches postponed in Lombardy and Veneto, the country’s industrial heartland.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq have travel and immigration curbs on Iran, while Oman on Sunday urged its citizens to steer clear of countries with high infection rates and said arrivals from those nations would be quarantined.

Source: Reuters

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